Immigration advocates are rallying support ahead of a crucial decision in the deportation case of Lucio Perez, a Guatemalan immigrant who has spent the last five months living in an Amherst church beyond the reach of immigration authorities.

The Pioneer Valley Workers Center has launched a letter-writing campaign, with the goal of sending 1,000 letters in support of Perez to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Now is the time to show community support for his case, and we're hopeful that everyone who has been moved by history and wants to see him back home with his family can write a letter of support," Pioneer Valley Workers Center organizer Margaret Sawyer said.

Perez is currently awaiting decisions on two legal petitions: A motion to reopen his case before the Bureau of Immigration Appeals and a request for a stay of deportation before ICE.

The Pioneer Valley Workers Center, which has helped organize political actions in support of Perez as well as his relocation into Amherst's First Congregational Church, is asking supporters to send letters asking immigration officials to approve Perez's appeals. The group has posted detailed instructions on its Facebook page, including a request that letter-writers include a copy of their photo identification.

Perez has lived in Amherst's First Congregational Church since October, when he entered the building on the eve of his scheduled deportation to seek sanctuary from immigration authorities. ICE considers Perez a fugitive but has abided by a 2011 policy that bars enforcement actions at houses of worship without the personal approval of a high-level official or other exigent circumstances

Perez entered the U.S. without authorization in 1999 to flee violence in Guatemala and seek economic opportunity, the Pioneer Valley Workers Center said in a press release. He married and had children, three of whom are U.S. citizens, and works as a landscaper.

In 2009, he and his wife were stopped by West Hartford police after they briefly left their children in the car to pick up drinks at a Dunkin' Donuts, according to the Pioneer Valley Workers Center. The child abandonment charges were dropped, but ICE was notified of the arrest and opened a case against Perez.

For the next eight years, Perez lived under an order of removal but was allowed to stay in the country as long as he regularly checked in with immigration authorities, under an Obama-era prioritization system that granted reprieves to many immigrants who had entered the U.S. illegally but did not otherwise have criminal records.

But President Donald Trump's administration ended that system, and in September Perez was told to buy a plane ticket to Guatemala for Oct. 19 and fitted with an ankle bracelet.

Perez' case has received support from both Western Massachusetts advocates and statewide elected officials. Sen. Ed Markey, who has written two letters to the Trump administration on Perez' behalf, visited Perez at the First Congregational Church in January.

Letter writers are asked to email their letters to lettersforlucio@gmail.com or send them to the Pioneer Valley Workers Center's headquarters at 20 Hampton Ave. in Northampton. The center intends to deliver the letters to an ICE office in April.